Can the Arab World be Democratic: An Analytic Study from the Perspective of the Arab Spring

Samuel Jacob Kuruvilla

doi:10.53989/jcp.v1i2.9

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Journal of Contemporary Politics

DOI: 10.53989/jcp.v1i2.9

Year: 2022, Volume: 1, Issue: 2, Pages: 42-48

Original Article

Can the Arab World be Democratic: An Analytic Study from the Perspective of the Arab Spring

Samuel Jacob Kuruvilla ^{✉ 1}

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

Corresponding author ✉: [email protected]

Received Date:19 September 2022, Accepted Date:22 November 2022, Published Date:28 December 2022

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

This article deals with the democratisation debate in the Arab world. The region remains one of the least receptive regions in the world towards the popularly and universally accepted Western norm of liberal Democracy. This is at odds with the location and general direction in which these nations and the people of these nations look for inspiration and direction. Today the Arab world stands at a crossroads, seemingly torn between the forces of the new Cold War. The region appears to be a new battlefield for the proxy war between the West and Russia, with Syria and Yemen being the best examples of this phenomenon. This is particularly tragic, given that in the last Cold War that started in 1945 and ended in 1991, this region was the zone of a number hot-engagements that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, displacement of people, huge refugee crises (the Palestine-Israel issue, Yemen Civil War, etc) and general instability in the region. This instability in turn provided the impetus for Strong-men and Dictators to take charge in many nations of the region. As a result, the move towards a liberal democratic stature in the region took a back-burner. This article will seek to look at this issue from the perspective of the Arab Spring.

Keywords: Democratic, Arab world, Arab spring

References

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Ciprut JV. Easter in Winter: The ˮArab Springˮ Seven Years Later. Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. 2017;p. 1–5. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep16857
Khan M, Mezran K. No Arab Spring for Algeria. ’Atlantic Council . 2014;p. 1–8. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep03422
Cordesman AH. The Greater Middle East: From the “Arab Spring” to the “Axis of Failed States. Strategic and International Studies . 2020;p. 1–43. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep25666
The four organisations consisted of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA), the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH), and finally the Tunisian Order of Lawyers. 2015. Available from: https://www.crisisgroup.org/latest-updates/commentary

Copyright

14 January 2023

Year: 2022, Volume: 1, Issue: 2

Article Metrics

[1] Demirtaş B. Justice and Development Party’s Understanding of Democracy and Democratisation,’Iran & the Caucasus. Iran and the Caucasus. 2018;22(3):308–323. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1163/1573384X-20180308

[2] Huntington P. The Third Wave, Democratisation in the Late Twentieth Century. 1991.

[3] Saxonberg S. The 'Velvet Revolution' and the Limits of Rational Choice Models. Czech Sociological Review. 1999;35(1):23–36. Available from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41133048

[4] Nohlen D, Krennerich M, Thibaut B. ., ed. Elections in Africa: A data handbook. (p. 54) Oxford University Press. 1999.

[5] The Algerian Crisis: Not over yet. ICG Africa Report No. 24.

[6] Elshobaki A. Building democracy or confronting the Islamists? The case of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt . In: EBA., ed. Egyptian Democracy and the Muslim Brotherhood,’ European Union Institute for Security Studies. (p. 15) 2011.

[7] International Crisis Group (ICG) Report.

[8] Khoury GS. Palestinian Legislative Elections. Al-Liqa Journal. 2006;26:174.

[9] Hamas Covenant 1988: The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement,’ The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy. Yale Law School. 1988.

[10] A Document of General Principles and Policies,’ Hamas Media Office. 2017. Available from: http://hamas.ps/en/post/678/a-document-of-general-principles-and-policies

[11] Yaari E. The Agony of Hamas. Times of Israel.

[12] Esposito JL, Mogahed D. Battle for Muslim Hearts and Minds: the Road Not (Yet) Taken. Middle East Policy. 2007;14(1):27–41.

[13] Olimat M. The Fourth Wave: Revolution and Democratization in the Arab Middle East. Journal of International Women’s Studies. 2011;12(3):1–6. Available from: https://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1109&context=jiws

[14] Turner J. Untangling Islamism from Jihadism: Opportunities for Islam and the West after the Arab Spring. Arab Studies Quarterly. 2012;34(3):176.

[15] Davidson L. Islamic Fundamentalism: An Introduction . In: Turner J., ed. Untangling Islamism from Jihadism. (p. 177) Greenwood Press. 2003.

[16] Ciprut JV. Easter in Winter: The ˮArab Springˮ Seven Years Later. Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. 2017;p. 1–5. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep16857

[17] Khan M, Mezran K. No Arab Spring for Algeria. ’Atlantic Council . 2014;p. 1–8. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep03422

[18] Cordesman AH. The Greater Middle East: From the “Arab Spring” to the “Axis of Failed States. Strategic and International Studies . 2020;p. 1–43. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep25666

[19] The four organisations consisted of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA), the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH), and finally the Tunisian Order of Lawyers. 2015. Available from: https://www.crisisgroup.org/latest-updates/commentary

Journal of Contemporary Politics

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Can the Arab World be Democratic: An Analytic Study from the Perspective of the Arab Spring

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